Monthly Archives: October 2013

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Posting has been slowing down a bit recently because my laptop is having so many problems. So I’ll try my best to catch. up our fall anime reviews for Tokyo Ravens, Kyoukai no Kanata and another Kill La Kill rant this weekend! (Pssst, there might be a Clannad After Story review coming very soon)

In the manga section…. Missions of Love 5, Haganai 4 (maybe), and a new old series I started reading that’s a secret till it gets posted 😉

Do you guys want to see some fanart? Then hit me a like or comment on what character you want me to draw. I’ve been busy with lots of school stuff but I’ll definitely try to fit in some visual arts if you want some of those posts.

What are you guys watching for Halloween? I might put on some Blood-C to go with a hot chocolate and pumpkin sugar cookies tonight. The anime is done by CLAMP so the art is reminiscient of their classic long and slender style. The story, however, is a little dark and falls into the supernatural genre so it’ll be nice to set the mystery mood tonight

Hey guys, recently with all my new manga released, I’ve been flipping through a lot of my favourite series to remind myself of the events thus far which really inspired me to do this post on my top 5 manga styles.

5) Clamp- No shoujo artstyle list or discussion or forum exists without some mention of the clamp trademark. Unnaturally tall but slender and elegant bodies coupled with a manga aesthetic that seems so natural and effortless for the reader, clamp is simply timeless.

4) Ema Toyama- Creator of I Am Here and Watashi ni Shinasai!!- Missions of Love; you’ll instantly fall in love with these series from the art alone. Toyama’s style exaggerates the eyes and facial expressions, especially in close up panel shots. Its slice of life high school stories with a feminine touch to it making it very well received with the shojo demographic.

3) Jun Mochizuki- If you’ve read pandora hearts, you know what I mean. There’s a fine balance that you tread when adding subtle detail to the eyes to make them both cheery and creepy at the same time. There’s a sense of warped dimensionality to the plot and the characters are essential to bringing out this dark yet whimsical theme.

2) Yana Toboso- Tobaso’s famous Black Butler series has become one of the most well-loved series out there. Her art style boasts gorgeous landscape art, intricate character costume designs and stunning body figure action choreography making the panels flow seamlessly from one animated panel into the other, she’s truly a master at what she does.

1) Hotaru Odagiri- She is the author of Uraboku or Betrayal Knows My Name. Her artstyle really encapsulates the epitome of shoujo art. Stylistically, the smooth gradient colouring and excessive shading typical to shojo manga but she’s made her characters immensely distinguishable and impressionable. I originally borrowed the series from the library and I’m totally set on buying the actual volumes because the art is just so gorgeous.

Hope you guys liked this post, let me know what your favourite art styles are in the comments! Thanks for reading and I will talk to u guys soon 🙂

I found that in many ways, I have underestimated Log Horizon, which is good, because I don’t want to get my hopes up and see it turn into another weird SAO romance video game anime. I’ve been immensely pleased with … Continue reading →

“Do I look like a normal person to you?” Rating: 5/5 intensely excited clouds So since Akihito has come back to save Mirai, they both end up being trapped inside the Hollow Shadow which has created a labyrinth from their … Continue reading →

Hey guys, have you all thought of some Halloween plans? Pumpkin carving? Trick-or treating? Or perhaps scaring innocent little trick-or-treaters that happen to pass by your house? I’m not a super big fan of scary animes because I can’t watch them alone past six… and even during the day, it makes me super paranoid in the house after seeing scary stuff. But here are my five spooky selections for this Halloween…

5) Higurashi: When They Cry- Up first is a supernatural, horror, murder mystery anime originally based off a game. There are a bunch of different arcs to the anime so you can either marathon this all night and go in order or find a buddy who’ already seen this entire series to guide you through to the best parts. It takes place in the year 1983 in a village called Hinamizawa. Everything seems well and fine until the day of the annual Watanagashi Festival where one person is always murdered and another goes missing… If you decide to spend Halloween on your own hiding from crazy teenage party-goers and screaming tricker-treaters, check out the Higurashi manga as well as the Umineko manga created by the same author or play the games in the dark!

4) Another– Interestingly enough, the novel of which this anime was originally based off of was published on October 29 in 2009, very close to Halloween. It takes place in a high school called Yomiyama Middle School… but prepare yourselves. The series revolves around a boy named Koichi Sakakibara and winds up in a freaky horror mystery that leads to the gruesome deaths of many of his fellow students…

3) Elfen Lied- Looks innocent on the cover of the manga and Lucy at first glance BUT it gets pretty gory. Despite the romance and fantasy aspect, there’s a lot of psychological stuff and horror throughout the story. The title actually means Elf Song and takes place in Kamakura, Japan. The show really goes into themes of prejudice, alienation, violence and social conflict between the humans and the Diclonius species (genetically mutated creatures that resemble humans)

2) Mirai Nikki: Future Diary- One of the most popular animes out there. You’ve probably encountered this series or art somewhere on the internet with the wonderfully charming pink haired girl with the sky blue uniform and the undying devoted stalker murderer buddy. All joking aside, if you’ve really never heard of Future Diary, it’s about a boy named Yuki Amano who spends WAY too much time writing a diary on his phone and talking to his imaginary friend, Deus Ex Machina and Deus’ servant, Murmur. When Deus gives Yuki a diary regarding a game, Yuki is forced into a fight to the death with eleven other people who also have diaries, to become the new God of Time and Space. The girl mentioned earlier is Yuno Gasai, the famous Yandere, who ends up teaming up with Yuki… and obsessing her future happy ending of becoming one with him.

1) Deadman Wonderland- Written by Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou, the writer and illustrator of the Eureka Seven manga, this action, drama, sci-fi, psychological horror anime is another of the better known stories out there if you dabble in such genres. It begins with an earthquake that shakes up the country of Japan. Ganta Igarashi, a middle-schooler survives, but he finds himself with no recollection of the accident. A figure named the Red Man massacres his entire class but leaves him alive and embeds a shard of the red crystal in him. Being convicted for the deaths of his entire class, he’s sentenced to a giant prison called Deadman Wonderland that creepily resembles a sadistic amusement park… just wait till that Corpse Carnival.

Of course, classic shounen fans can re-watch Death Note. I didn’t include it in the list because it’s such a widely known anime, it’s considered one of the big mainstream ones. There’s also a wide selection of horror movies and classic vampire movies that you might personally want to watch or re-watch (like Vampire Hunter D). There are a lot of great horror-themed animes out there. Halloween just encourages us to watch them again 😉 I hope you guys have a great trick-or-treat night or cosplay anime party. Wherever you are, I hope you have a spooktacular Halloween!!

Hey guys, I’ve been noticing the difference in likes and views between my reviews and rants. I was just curious as to what you guys prefer so that I can point my blog in a direction where my strengths lie, write about what you guys are interested in hearing about and possibly stop writing things that I don’t like writing nor do you like reading. Also, if you guys have anything in particular that I’ve never covered or touched on, comment in the poll or below and I will look into it!

Like this:

My lovely photography friends, as you all might know, the Nikon D610 and the Nikon D5300 was recently released in the last week or so. My goodness, that beautiful new Nikon D610… well, it very much resembles its predecessor the Nikon D600, except for a few extra features. Nevertheless, it’s a wonderful full frame to get your hands on… If you close your eyes and swipe your credit card without looking. My inner photographer artist aches for a full frame and just as I contemplate trading in my basic D3100 for a full frame, my inner frugal poor university self goes and beats the crap out the head-in-the-clouds photographer artist that’ll definitely leave me broke one day. (◞‸ლ)

I have to say that I think I’ll really benefit from the new white balance and quite continuous shooting mode so I don’t feel so self-conscious taking a whole batch of photos at quiet formal events. However, id on’t know if the slightly improved shooting speed will do much. The body-only kit is already up to almost $2000 and other upgraded kits with an additional lens and other accessories will amp the price up to $3000. ┻━┻ ︵ ლ(=益=ლ

Nikon D5300

– 24.1MP DX format CMOS sensor without OLPF

– ISO 100-12800 (to 25600 expanded)

– EXPEED 4 processing

– 5fps continuous shooting

– 39 AF points, 9 cross type points

– 1.04M dot 3.2” vari-angle LCD monitor

– 2016 pixel RGB metering senosr

– 1080p60 video recording + in-built stereo mic

– Available in Black, Grey and Red

Retail Price: $800

Is there really any change from the D5200? What do you guys think? I was never a big fan of this series, the body feels a little bulky to me but that’s because I have quite tiny hands but I know this is a popular series for some.

Since the D5300 isn’t full frame, the price is just a litttttttleeee bit less than the D610. Well, as much as I would love to get my hands on either of these new releases BUT my wallet and my inner frugal stick-in-the-mud self disagrees with the intense market prices. But have any of you gotten these newbies already? Or are you, like me, waiting for those Christmas sales and special promotions? (*´∀｀) hehe

Episode 5 Rating: 3/5 complacent clouds Soooooo who really killed that b**** Cordelia this time? At the beginning of episode 5 when Kanato takes Yui to his mother’s grave, he claims that he killed her. And then later Reiji claims … Continue reading →

I’ve always loved collecting merchandise for my favourite animes, whether it be key chains, cell phone straps, art books, figures, and so on. Whatever it is, as long as it contributes to my fandom, it’s decently priced, and I like it, I’ll get it. That’s not to say tht I scour the internet every day for new things to buy. Like many other otakus, I’m not unfamiliar to the internet hunt for best shipping prices and ebay bid wars. However, the issue I really wanted to talk about today is not the quality of what you’re buying, but the quantity.

You know what I’m talking about- all those photos on tumblr and facebook of otaku fandom rooms that have fifty copies of the same poster plastered on the walls, with thirty of the same keychains, ten of the same figures, five of the same pillow designs and ALL of the exact. Same. Character.

Creepily obsessive? Or just healthy otaku fandom?

MAKE IT RAIN ATTACK ON TITAN STRAPS!!!! \*v*/

I mean REALLY do you REALLY need an entire box of the same character strap design? I understand getting two of your favourite strap just in case you lose the one you’re using, but I feel like stocking up on more than three is pushing the limits of your fandom, not to mention your wallet wallet (unless you’re stocking up from the Japanese sites to resell on ebay for triple the price in which case, that’s just EVIL!)

Many of the times, before a lot of the merchandise can get all the way to North America, its already sold out and many manufacturers end up replicating hot items in order to make a sale, leading many unsuspecting con-goers to purchase fake goods.

Alternatives

– Learn Japanese. I’m serious! It’ll give u an in with the culture and allow you to navigate Japanese otaku sites with ease

– Buy through a proxy. Since Japanese sites can be difficult to process payments, a proxy helps you handle all the domestic and international shipping transitions

– Hope that your local hobby stores stock your fave anime merchandise

– Attend anime conventions!! (But beware of fakes)

I guess what I’m trying to say at the end of all this is, there’s a certain sort of etiquette that you should consider when shopping online, so if you’re into hardcore merch collecting, don’t forget to leave some for everybody else!!

Hi everyone! Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are. I hope you’re all well. Today I’m back with another Cloud Says segment and today I’m really really excited because littlecloudcuriosity has just reached 100 followers which is just CRAZZZZYYYY. When I started this blog back in April, I didn’t think that I’d even get one follower. How did I even get here? This feels kinda surreal for me and I don’t know what to say except THANK YOU! Thank you guys for all your support, your awesome comments and for dropping in to check out my blog. Whether you’ve just gotten here today or you’ve been with me since I made my first posts as a stumbling reviewer with clunky critiques, arigatou gozaimashita! *deep bow*

Now, as in all Cloudy Says posts, let’s get on with the upcoming stuff…

With the results of the poll more or less tallied up, the animes I’m going to follow on a long term are… Diabolik Lovers, Tokyo Ravens, Kill La Kill, Super Seisyun Brothers, Log Horizon and Kyoukai no Kanata. I feel that these five animes give pretty well-rounded look into the fall season in terms of animation styles, genre and story diversity. Official reviews or rants will come up as soon as the episodes are available online. Other animes I will be unofficially following are Golden Time, Noucome, Strike the Blood so if you guys are ever wondering how I feel about these ones, be sure to follow me on twitter @CuriousCloudy as I’ll tweet my thoughts as I’m watching from these three animes. Feel free to tweet me your ponderings as well!

As well, the blog has been seriously lacking some Light Otaku Living Rants because of all the new anime craziness (and schoolwork) that’s been going on but rest assured that those will be back soon. As for manga, I’m currently waiting for my local bookstore to bring in Haganai Volume 4, Alice in the Country of Joker Volume 3 and Missions of Love Volume 5 (to be released on Oct 22). As well, Black Butler Volume 15 and Pandora Hearts Volume 18 will be related on October 29th which is AMAZING because both are going to help me get into the mood for Halloween by the end of the month.

Finally, there’s going to be a whole new section on the blog that allows me to talk about my random thoughts or rant about things that just happen to happen to me on a daily basis. It’ll mostly be text because I’ll be blogging from my phone and it’s going to be in a new category called Up In the Clouds.